Board of Directors

Ms. Abanti Mitra

(Independent Director)

Ms. Abanti Mitra comes with over a decade of rich experience in mass market, microfinance, credit ratings and consulting. She is a director in Positron Services, a boutique consulting firm assisting clients in maximizing performance. She also holds a directorship position in Development Equities Private Limited. She is engaged in consulting assignments with institutions focused on Bottom of Pyramid clients; Marketing Research and Advisory research for wholesale insurance companies; Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) – including incubation, strategic planning, product design, head – hunting and financial advisory (debt & equity); Capacity building needs assessment on behalf of donor agencies and funding institutions. And helps the CSR wings of various corporate and makes an impact. She holds an Masters Degree in Rural Management assessments.

Mr. Ramachandra Kasargod Kamath

(Independent Director)

Mr. Kamath is the former Chairman & Managing Director of Punjab National Bank (2009-14), where he was the youngest CMD of a nationalized bank in India. He also served as Chairman of PNB Housing Finance at that time, and oversaw the transformation and rapid growth of that business.
Prior to his assignment at PNB, Mr. Kamath spent almost 30 years in Corporation Bank, before moving on to Bank of India as Executive Director and then to Allahabad Bank as Chairman & Managing Director.
He has also been the Chairman of the Indian Banks Association for two years and consistently figuring in the Top 100 India Inc. Most Powerful CEOs surveyed by Economic Times during 2010-2014.

Mr. Amit Sobti

(Nominee Director)

Mr. Amit Sobti is a Senior Principal in the Private Capital division of Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and is part of the senior team responsible for direct and co-investing activities across the Asia-Pacific region. He has 17 years of experience in private equity and investment banking.
Before joining Ontario Teachers', Mr. Amit was a Principal at Unitas Capital, a mid-market private equity firm based in Hong Kong, prior to which he was a Principal in the healthcare group at Warburg Pincus, one of the largest global private equity firms. He previously worked at Rhone Capital and in the M&A group within investment banking at Merrill Lynch.
Mr. Amit holds a dual A.B., magna cum laude, in Business Economics and Computer Science from Brown University.

Mr. Darius Pandole

(Nominee Director)

Prior to Investment Manager, Mr Padole was a partner at New Silk Route Advisors (NSR) for close to 9 years. He was a member of the early team at NSR that managed the US$1.4 billion private equity fund. At NSR, Mr Pandole worked on a number of investments and divestments across sectors, including participating on the board of directors of investee companies. Prior to NSR, Mr Pandole worked at IDFC PE Ltd., which he joined in February 2003. He was the Executive Direcor, and later COO of this asset management company that managed the India Development Fund, an infrastructure focused private equity fund. The India Development Fund was the largest domestic private equity fund in India at that time and Mr Pandole was part of the start-up team responsible for raising and managing this fund. This fund had been amongst the best performing funds in India during this timeframe. In February 1999, Mr Pandole co-founded and served as managing director of IndAsia Fund Advisors Pvt. Ltd, the Indian advisor to the AMP-IndAsia India Fund – a private equity fund established in partnership with AMP of Australia.
Prior to this, in 1997, Mr Pandole joined the investment team at the IndOcean Fund, amongst the first private equity funds to be established in India. The IndOcean Fund was established in partnership with Chase Capital Partners and Soros Fund Management. Upon his return from the U.S in 1993, Mr Pandole managed the operations of his family owned soft drinks business, Duke and Sons Limited, which was a market leader in Westren India. He led the negotiations that culminated in a successful sale of the business to PepsiCo.
Mr Pandole serves as an associate direction on the board of JM Financial Asset Management Ltd. He has previously served as an independent director on the boards of Tata Global Beverages Ltd., Tata Global Beverages Group UK and NourishCo Beverages Ltd.
Mr Pandole was elected as a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (VCA) for 2011 and 2012. He is frequent speaker at private equity industry forums in India.
Mr Pandole holds a degree in bachelors in Economics, graduating from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.